Espresso Shots 3-2-25

Here's my weekly update with a few interesting random findings that I came across the last week or two. I am going to try to make sure they're here in time for you to enjoy with your morning coffee (or beverage of choice) every Saturday or Sunday, and include some of my thoughts around them.

The Latest Drippings ☕️

• Make yourself less valuable to tech companies. If you're getting as sick as I am at what's going on with some technology companies these days, one of the best 'acts of resistance' to do is simply making yourself 'less valuable' to them. If you haven't seen this segment from John Oliver on Meta, I would highly recommend sitting back a bit to give it a watch. Cory has crafted an incredible resource with all the steps you need to remove or at least lessen your data exposure to them (Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Amazon, X, etc). Watch now.
• Gene Hackman Redefined Leading Men and Made Movies Better. 2025 keeps kicking us when we're down, and when I heard about the passing of 95-year-old actor Gene Hackman this week, I felt a surprising sense of loss as a long time fan. Once voted as 'least likely to succeed,' Hackman (in my book) is one of the inspiring greats who brought powerful grace to every performance. And though the circumstances surrounding not only his death but that of his wife and one of their dogs remain a bit of a mystery, there's no denying a true Hollywood legend is gone.
• The David Lynch Line That Reveals the Humanity of His Work. While 'keep your eye on the donut, not on the hole' comes from the Optimist's Creed of Mayflower Donuts, I love the way Lynch uses it to describe his work. 'The donut hole is in the center. It's what draws the eye. But it has no substance, it's a void. It only exists in relation to what's around it.' And, in 2025, focusing on the signal, not the bombardment of noise, is some of the best life advice these days. Watch here.
• Playing 'Civilization 7' Is Like Being a Ruthless Corporate Consultant. While I'm still waiting for Civilization 7 to be released for iOS devices (Civ 6 is available), this was a fun read comparing the games mechanics around exploring, expanding, exploiting, and exterminating, and efficiently allocate resources, akin to the strategies employed by consulting firms. Ouch.
• The future of the internet is likely smaller communities, with a focus on curated experiences. There's a significant fragmentation of social media upon us, and this post was a fun and insightful look at what happens when 'social platforms are rapidly losing ground as trust and authenticity fade.' More here as well.
• ❧ Prompt Update: Haunting. Ok - this was a wild find, 'a very personal social media post with an audience of one.' The Right Number (503-673-6267) is a 'noncommercial space where your only job is to be yourself; upon dialing you'll be connected to a voicemail box and given a brief prompt. You have three minutes to answer however you'd like.' Wild!
• Questions for the End of a 1:1. This is a good resource for a bunch of reflective questions that can be asked during one-on-one meetings to enhance communication and feedback. I will definitely be adding a few of these to mine.
• The Keen is pricy, but exactly what I wanted. I grabbed the Studio Neat Keen when it was on Kickstarter, and it's a fantastic utility knife.
• Be Excellent, Not Perfect. Great advice: 'Aim for perfection and you'll usually fall short. Aim for excellence and you have a chance to do excellent work along the way.'
• Why We Lost Our Sense of Community. I don't know if the theory proposed by this article is the only reason, but it's interesting. The post asserts that one of the main reasons that society has 'become more isolated and polarized than ever' is due to architecture. Yes - home architecture, specifically the front porch helped facilitate a sense of belonging and community. 'Once we retreated from the front porch to the backyard patio, it signaled a breakdown of the neighborhood.' Something to think about.
• 20 Great Songs to Use for CPR. Hopefully, you'll never need to perform CPR, but if you do, you'll want to time your compressions to the beat of these songs, which have between 100 and 120 beats per minute. Ironically, the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive' has long been considered the gold standard at 104BPM. (For you, Swifties: Taylor Swift's 22 is on the list).
• 'Eat shit' and 'Oh fuck': Sweary First and Last Words. According to Michael Erard 's book, Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our and First Last Words, examines the linguistic patterns of peoples first words and dying utterances.

I wanted to close out this week with an incredible performance of the soliloquy from Hamlet given by Andrew Scott (Jim Moriarty from Sherlock). It was just captivating.

Amor Fati ✌🏻